Winners

Kyle Busch — Busch has been a master of the road courses in recent years, but something always seems to go wrong — like sliding in oil on the last lap. He fended off everything thing the competition and fate threw at him Sunday for an impressive victory. The win, his third of the season, also puts him on the heels of Jimmie Johnson and Matt Kenseth in bonus points when the Chase starts.

Brad Keselowski — The defending Sprint Cup champion came the closest he has come all season to winning, and he came up short again. His runnerup finish was huge, though, during a fierce battle to make the Chase. Keselowski leaped from 12th to eighth in the standings. Now he needs to secure his spot by winning a race.

Martin Truex Jr. — Truex, who won the road-course race at Sonoma in June, didn’t have quite enough to challenge Busch, but he also helped himself with a third-place finish. Truex leaped from 14th to 10th in the standings and still has a win in his pocket if he needs a wild card.

AJ Allmendinger — Allmendinger ran up front early and then overcame running out of fuel to finish 10th. The performance was impressive for a driver who is trying to land a full-time ride with JTG Daugherty Racing next season.

Danica Patrick — She was barely mentioned all day, but Patrick wound up finishing 20th — just her fifth top-20 finish all season. More importantly, she stayed out of trouble, made few mistakes and made no one mad. At least that’s something.

Losers

Marcos Ambrose — Ambrose, a road-course ace, has two good chances to win each year, and they are both now gone for this season. Not only did Ambrose miss out on a third straight victory at Watkins Glen but he lost a race that he dominated. Ambrose led a race-high 51 laps but fell behind on an untimely caution flag and never recovered. A late crash only added insult to injury. Ambrose handled the bitter disappointment with typical class. Too bad he isn’t a contender more often.

Jeff Gordon — While Keselowski and Truex were the big winners in the fierce battle to make the Chase, Gordon was the big loser. He struggled in qualifying, struggled early in the race and wound up paying for it. Stuck in traffic near the rear of the field, Gordon wrecked early and spent 25 laps in the garage. He fell from ninth to 13th in the standings and doesn’t have a win to help him in the wild-card race. Gordon is now right back in the same situation he was in last year when he had to put together a remarkable rally to make the Chase.

Kasey Kahne — Unlike Gordon, his teammate, Kahne has two wins and is in safe wild-card territory. But he doesn’t want to use a wild card if he can help it. He may need it, though, after getting caught up in a wreck and falling to 12th in points.

Matt Kenseth — Kenseth is not known for his road-racing skills, and it showed at Watkins Glen. Not only did he struggle most of the day but he got into Ambrose and Kahne, causing Kahne to crash and collecting good friend Dale Earnhardt, who was furious with Kenseth. Kenseth is safely in the Chase, so his 23rd-place finish didn’t hurt him. He’s much more bothered by causing a wreck and creating ill will with drivers he respects.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. — Earnhardt is safely in the Chase and he wasn’t going to win at Watkins Glen. But he needs good runs and momentum. He had both until Kenseth’s wreck took him and others out.